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Catherine Winkworth
1827 - 1878 Person Name: Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878 Translator of "The Church of Christ, Which He Hath Hallowed" in Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church Catherine Winkworth (b. Holborn, London, England, 1827; d. Monnetier, Savoy, France, 1878) is well known for her English translations of German hymns; her translations were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany, in 1845, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody. After residing near Manchester until 1862, she moved to Clifton, near Bristol. A pioneer in promoting women's rights, Winkworth put much of her energy into the encouragement of higher education for women. She translated a large number of German hymn texts from hymnals owned by a friend, Baron Bunsen. Though often altered, these translations continue to be used in many modern hymnals. Her work was published in two series of Lyra Germanica (1855, 1858) and in The Chorale Book for England (1863), which included the appropriate German tune with each text as provided by Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt. Winkworth also translated biographies of German Christians who promoted ministries to the poor and sick and compiled a handbook of biographies of German hymn authors, Christian Singers of Germany (1869).
Bert Polman
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Winkworth, Catherine, daughter of Henry Winkworth, of Alderley Edge, Cheshire, was born in London, Sep. 13, 1829. Most of her early life was spent in the neighbourhood of Manchester. Subsequently she removed with the family to Clifton, near Bristol. She died suddenly of heart disease, at Monnetier, in Savoy, in July, 1878. Miss Winkworth published:—
Translations from the German of the Life of Pastor Fliedner, the Founder of the Sisterhood of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserworth, 1861; and of the Life of Amelia Sieveking, 1863.
Her sympathy with practical efforts for the benefit of women, and with a pure devotional life, as seen in these translations, received from her the most practical illustration possible in the deep and active interest which she took in educational work in connection with the Clifton Association for the Higher Education of Women, and kindred societies there and elsewhere. Our interest, however, is mainly centred in her hymnological work as embodied in her:—
(1) Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855. (2) Lyra Germanica, 2nd Ser., 1858. (3) The Chorale Book for England (containing translations from the German, together with music), 1863; and (4) her charming biographical work, the Christian Singers of Germany, 1869.
In a sympathetic article on Miss Winkworth in the Inquirer of July 20, 1878, Dr. Martineau says:—
"The translations contained in these volumes are invariably faithful, and for the most part both terse and delicate; and an admirable art is applied to the management of complex and difficult versification. They have not quite the fire of John Wesley's versions of Moravian hymns, or the wonderful fusion and reproduction of thought which may be found in Coleridge. But if less flowing they are more conscientious than either, and attain a result as poetical as severe exactitude admits, being only a little short of ‘native music'"
Dr. Percival, then Principal of Clifton College, also wrote concerning her (in the Bristol Times and Mirror), in July, 1878:—
"She was a person of remarkable intellectual and social gifts, and very unusual attainments; but what specially distinguished her was her combination of rare ability and great knowledge with a certain tender and sympathetic refinement which constitutes the special charm of the true womanly character."
Dr. Martineau (as above) says her religious life afforded "a happy example of the piety which the Church of England discipline may implant.....The fast hold she retained of her discipleship of Christ was no example of ‘feminine simplicity,' carrying on the childish mind into maturer years, but the clear allegiance of a firm mind, familiar with the pretensions of non-Christian schools, well able to test them, and undiverted by them from her first love."
Miss Winkworth, although not the earliest of modern translators from the German into English, is certainly the foremost in rank and popularity. Her translations are the most widely used of any from that language, and have had more to do with the modern revival of the English use of German hymns than the versions of any other writer.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Hymn Writers of the Church
Catherine Winkworth
August Gottlieb Spangenberg
1704 - 1792 Person Name: Augustus Gottleib Spangenberg, 1704-1792 Author of "The Church of Christ, Which He Hath Hallowed" in Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church Spangenberg, August Gottlieb, son of Georg Spangenberg, Lutheran pastor at Klettenberg near Nordhausen, was born at Klettenberg, July 15, 1704. He entered the University of Jena in 1722, as a student of law, but soon abandoned law for the study of theology. He lived in the house of Professor Buddeus, graduated M.A. in 1726, and for some time lectured there. In Sept. 1732 he went to Halle as adjunct of the Theological faculty and superintendent of the Orphanage schools. Here he associated himself with the Separatists, and by an edict from Berlin was deprived of his offices, and, on April 8, 1733, was expelled from Halle. He at once proceeded to Herrnhut, and was received into the Moravian Community, with which he had become acquainted as early as 1727. In 1735 he accompanied the Moravian colony which settled in Georgia, and served also in Pennsylvania and in the Island of St. Thomas. He returned to Germany in 1739, and was for some time at Marienborn in Hesse.
In Sept. 1741 he was present at an important Moravian Conference in London, and was there appointed a member of the Unity's Direction, and also director of their financial affairs. While in England he founded, in 1742, the first English Moravian settlement, at Smith House in Yorkshire. He was then, on June 15, 1744, consecrated at Herrenhaag as Moravian Bishop for North America, and from that time till 1762 was for the most part in America, working principally in Pennsylvania, and among the Indians, and paying two visits to Europe. In 1762 he became the senior member of the Unity's Direction as successor to Zinzendorf, and thereafter resided for the most part either at Herrnhut or at Barby. The last years of his life were spent at Berthelsdorf near Herrnhut, where he resigned his offices in Sept. 1791, and died Sept. 18, 1792. (Koch, v. 337; G. F. Otto's Lexicon Oberlausizischer Schriftsteller, iii. 306; Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie, xiv., 460, &c.)
Spangenberg was an earnest and able man, was much beloved and respected, and was entrusted by the Brethren with many important missions, being e.g. the principal agent in the negotiations between the Moravians and the British Government. He did good service both in consolidating the Moravian organization and by untiring labours in America. His Autobiography appeared in 1784. He also wrote a life of Zinzendorf, in 8 vols., published at Barby 1772-75. His other chief work is his Idea fidei fratrum, &c, Barby, 1779 (English tr. as An Exposition of Christian Doctrine, as taught in the Protestant Church of the United Brethren, &c, London, 1784), which is accepted as an authorised exposition of the Moravian theology. He only wrote a few hymns, which are of fervent but rational piety, but do not entitle him to high rank as a, hymnwriter. They were mostly written before 1746. Ten of them are included in the Brüder Gesang-Buch of 1778.
Of these ten hymns the following may be noted here:—
i. Der König runt, und schauet doch. Christian Works. First published as No. 1004 in Appendix, i., 1737, to the Herrnhut Gesang-Buch 1735, and is in 8 stanzas of 10 lines. Tr. as:—
High on His everlasting Throne. This is a spirited but free translation by J. Wesley, in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1742.
ii. Die Kirche Christi ist hin und her. Unity of the Christian Church. The hymn has been translated as:—
The Church of Christ that He hath hallow'd here. This is a good translation of st. i.-iii. of the 1778 by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 2nd Ser., 1858, p. 58.
iii. Heilige Einfalt, Gnadenwunder. Christian Simplicity. This is an excellent picture of his own Christian character. According to Bunsen, 1833, p. 904, it was written as a birthday hymn for his sister. The date which Bunsen gives for its composition (1744) is probably a misprint for 1741. Translated as:—
1. When simplicity we cherish. This is given in 14 stanzas as No. 387 in pt. ii., 1746, of the Moravian Hymn Book. In the 1789 and later eds. (1849, No. 603) it is reduced to 6 stanzas, and is entirely rewritten, save the opening line. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
August Gottlieb Spangenberg
